Lake Brantley LB Chris Delarosa earns first college offer from South Alabama

CHRIS HAYS/ORLANDO SENITNEL

Lake Brantley linebcker Chris Delarosa received his first college football scholarship offer from South Alabama on Tuesday (May 7).

Lake Brantley linebcker Chris Delarosa received his first college football scholarship offer from South Alabama on Tuesday (May 7). (CHRIS HAYS/ORLANDO SENITNEL)

By Chris Hays | Orlando Sentinel

Lake Brantley linebacker Chris Delarosa has been making huge strides since last season, when he led the Patriots in tackles as a junior.

He’s progressed so much that college coaches are taking notice, and the staff at South Alabama is the first in line. Central Florida area recruiter John Turner, the Jaguars’ offensive line coach, has been in town this week and he extended Delarosa his first college football scholarship offer on Tuesday, which has the 6-foot-1, 220-pounder hungry for more.

“It feels great. I’ve been really trying to get that recognition and waiting for someone to pull the trigger,” Delarosa said Wednesday. “I’ve been talking to a bunch of schools and I knew some were interested but I’ve just been waiting for someone to make that first offer to get the process going.”

It wasn't long afterward that the process, indeed, kept rolling for Delarosa. Early today (May 8) he received his second offer from Western Michigan.

"Ohh yes, starting the day our great," Delarosa wrote in a text message.

The South Alabama offer actually surprised the senior-to-be.

“Yeah, I wasn’t even expecting it and they offered me yesterday,” Delarosa said. “Recruiting is like a game and anything can happen.

“I’m definitely considering going up there. It’s my first offer and I’m taking every offer into consideration. [Coach Turner] was telling me about all of the stuff up in Mobile, Ala., and what’s great about them. He said they have great facilities and told me about all the bowl games they have had up there and the senior all-star game is played there ... he was just telling me about all of the perks and why I should go there.”

Delarosa led the Patriots in tackles last season with 98 and he also had three forced fumbles and 12 tackles for loss from his “Will” inside linebacker spot in the Brantley 4-4 scheme. His stats as a junior are even more impressive considering the heavy senior leadership Brantley had last year. Linebacker Dominic Zanca and Colton Caslow, who both were selected to the Florida Athletic Coaches Association North-South All-Star Game and the Central Florida All-Star Game, have moved on to Duke and Lehigh.

“I started off last offseason with my coaches pushing me and I set a goal for myself to become a starter on varsity, and then I decided I wanted to play in college," Delarosa said. "I started working with Lo Wood this spring and learning a lot of things like how to talk to coaches and recruiters and to prepare myself to be recruited, to get in the right mental mindset.”

Delarosa attributes some newfound speed and quickness to his training sessions with Wood, who works for Excel Speed and Fitness Training of Orlando and has trained numerous area football prospects, past and present.

“Coach Lo has definitely helped me with my footwork. I had only been going to him for about two months and my times in the 40 and the shuttle had already gotten better,” Delarosa said. “I was running like a 4.77 40 before I started training with Lo, and now I’m down to a 4.62 and my shuttle time is down to 4.4. I am really thankful to Lo.”

This coming season, Delarosa will take on more of a defensive leadership role vacated by the graduating seniors.

“Last year we had real strong leaders like Dominic and Colton. We lost all of those seniors and the coaches told me I need to step it up as a vocal leader,” he said. “I’ve always been the type who leads more by example, but this year I really need to get my teammates going hard in each practice.

“It hasn’t been a problem at all. I’ve been with all these guys since Pop Warner and the teammates make it easy. I also was able to observe the leaders I’ve had before and I’m able to learn from that and to also pick up on where they could have improved.”

As usual, even though Brantley lost several key defensive seniors from last season’s playoff team, Delarosa expects the Patriots to reload.

“Absolutely, that’s exactly what Coach [George] Clayton tells us. We lose some guys and we’re ready each year for new guys to step up and fill the roles,” Delarosa said. “We have a real strong DB corps with Chase Haecker and Alix Celeste, and we have Noah Oliver up front on the D-line and we have great size there, and then I have Isaiah [Rios] beside me at linebacker and also Justin Ciccarello, who is back after being hurt last year.”